Tech groups want Congress to re-establish R&D tax credits

The IDG News Service reports that a coalition of technology trade groups wants the U.S. Congress to re-enact a now-expired research and development tax credit.

Not the incoming U.S. Congress, mind you. The "lame duck" Congress, which reconvenes Monday.

Before it expired in December, 2005, the credit allowed U.S. companies to take up to a 10% deduction for R&D expenses.

The groups- which include the AeA, (formerly the American Electronics Association), Electronics Industries Alliance, the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI),the Business Software Alliance, the Semiconductor Industry Association, the Biotechnology Industry Association, the United States Telecom Associationand the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA)- say that without an immediate extension and an expansion of the R&D tax credit, the U.S. will lose more tech jobs to overseas companies.

The organizations also want the r&d tax credit formula recalculated in a manner that they believe if applied, might save their members as much as $2 billion a year in total.